Monday, June 20, 2011

The Principal of the Path By Andy Stanley
Why is it that smart people with admirable life goals often end up far from where they intended to be? Why is it that so many people start out with a clear mental picture of where they want to be relationally, financially, and professionally and yet years later find themselves far from theyr desired destination? Why do our expectations about our own future often go unmet?

It is these questions that Andy Stanley focuses on in his book Principles of the Path that we received to review from Thomas Nelson Publishing.

I have appreciated other books from Andy Stanley in the past and was quite excited to have a chance to review this book. Overall, this book was good in premise, but not quite there in fallow through. The thought that began this book, to illustrate and explain how the results that we get in life are most often a product of a series of discisions and ways of doing things that make a path to those results. This is certainly a very important realization, and as a pastor I have met and had discusions with many people that need to better understand that fact. As simple as it is, it is amazing how all of us can decieve ourselves in seperating the many smaller choices and paths we put ourselves on from the results we get ourselves into, and often that leads to a lot of complaining, both to others and to God.

The problem arrises in that instead of developing this idea into a fully rounded book and working it all through, it was kept at the basic level of development and surrounded by personal stories and other re-iterations of the same idea.

Now, this by no means should be taken as a reason to not read the book, or to have one on your shelf for when you find that person who trully needs to hear that basic truths of this book, it just means that you need to keep your expectations in check, and to be ready to do a lot of the work yourself in bringing it to a fully developed point, which might be twice as good in the long run.

So pick up a copy, and start thinking about the paths we are on, and where it might go.